got kicked off the job

T

Tree Cutter Chris

Location
Clear Lake
So does anyone do work for municipalities? I bid a couple of "nuisance trees" for the city, they were residential trees on private property but gargantuan and dead/dying and overhanging street/sidewalk/city property. So the city asked for bids, the city pays for the work on the residents tree's then garnishes their taxes/lien on house/whatever/not my problem I'll get paid by the city what they do from there I don't care.

So the city had us give them a bid, we got the job, and when we show up to do the work the homeowner freaks out and starts suing the city, having her lawyer send letters, etc when the city had tried to send her certified mail, have cops send mail about nuisance trees, etc, she was always dodging.

So, long story short, we got half of one of the gargantuan dead gnarly trees done before she kicked us out. My question is, what would you guys do? I told her if she kicked us off the property and could get no other tree company to do the work within the cities timeframe, and if we had to come back that I was billing her for the time I spent getting my crews and equipment there, set up, and when we got kicked out, had to clean up, take equipment and crews elsewhere, a huge PITA ON TOP OF the original quote.

So the original quote was 8k for two trees. I sent the city a bill for 2500 for the work we did, and if the homeowner can't find another tree company to do the work within the next two weeks, I'll have my crews finish the job, but for the entire 8k on top of the 2,500 for the work we did for a total of 10,500. These silver maples are absolutely massive, overhanging sidewalks, driveways, houses, and dead/dying.

Does this seem unfair to you? I do not want to get on the bad side of the city, but I also don't want to eat the cost of the two days my crews spent setting up, working, getting yelled at, kicked out, cleaning up, and getting equipment somewhere else. Basically lost two days.

My question is, what would you guys do? Did this make sense? If we get the bid again and finish the trees, would you guys go back to the 8k bid, or gut punch the resident? Like I said, all costs get passed onto the homeowner, but I also don't want the city to think I'm charging heinous rates because of the situation.

I just can't think of any business where you can kick them off the jobsite mid job have them come back weeks later and finish the job for the same price.
 
Read your contract...actually...have your attorney read it

Who are you working for? City? Homeowner? Who has jurisdiction for the tree. What is the process for condemning a tree on private property?

Keep accurate records of all your work and discussions. Use your phone to dictate notes to yourself. Much easier than writing things down all of the time. Use them later as reminders. Same with pictures
 
It must be good money. Also, remember that there must be reasons why not many other tree co want to get into the mess. I'd say, stick to ur numbers and make it worth a while.
 
On top of what everyone else has said, where does the cities authority lie. In our ordinance, we can only order private trees removed when they are a threat to the public right of way. If this is the same in your case, maybe your first response should have been to involve the police and the city arborist/ engineer or who ever solicited the original bud.
 
The first thing we tell any contractor, and their crew is that when a citizen starts to get upset, or it's more than a simple question or two, just give us a call and we will show up and take it from there. I don't want contractors held up, they are there to work and make money - not deal with the public and the concerns they have. I wouldn't have an issue with extra time/money being added on if a situation came up that we couldn't resolve in an acceptable amount of time. I'm a little surprised the city didn't have anyone there when you started if she had already been a PITA.
 
I used to work for a municipality as a forestry inspector. Every once in a while the property standards division of bylaw would contact us to determine if a privately owned tree had become a hazard to neighbouring properties (mainly stone dead ash trees). At this point in the process bylaw would have been dealing with complaints from neighbours for months while making no headway with the actual property owners. This is a last resort situation and the city should be facilitating safe access to the site for you and your crew. I agree with the others in reviewing the contract with a lawyer, just for your own peace of mind if nothing else.
 
I doubt you'll get a dime billing her. She didn't agree to anything from you.

Echoing: what's in the contract?

I can't imagine the city would have a problem adding that to the lien on her property as long as they are allowed to legally do so...and that likely goes back to the contract.

Did you call the city and/or police while you were on site before packing up to leave?
 
Simple version. 8K is X amount of hours and equipment. Anything exceeding that estimate should be billed time and material.

Contract version is the question.
 
Tree Cutter Chris said:
So does anyone do work for municipalities? I bid a couple of "nuisance trees" for the city, they were residential trees on private property but gargantuan and dead/dying and overhanging street/sidewalk/city property. So the city asked for bids, the city pays for the work on the residents tree's then garnishes their taxes/lien on house/whatever/not my problem I'll get paid by the city what they do from there I don't care.

So the city had us give them a bid, we got the job, and when we show up to do the work the homeowner freaks out and starts suing the city, having her lawyer send letters, etc when the city had tried to send her certified mail, have cops send mail about nuisance trees, etc, she was always dodging.

So, long story short, we got half of one of the gargantuan dead gnarly trees done before she kicked us out. My question is, what would you guys do? I told her if she kicked us off the property and could get no other tree company to do the work within the cities timeframe, and if we had to come back that I was billing her for the time I spent getting my crews and equipment there, set up, and when we got kicked out, had to clean up, take equipment and crews elsewhere, a huge PITA ON TOP OF the original quote.

So the original quote was 8k for two trees. I sent the city a bill for 2500 for the work we did, and if the homeowner can't find another tree company to do the work within the next two weeks, I'll have my crews finish the job, but for the entire 8k on top of the 2,500 for the work we did for a total of 10,500. These silver maples are absolutely massive, overhanging sidewalks, driveways, houses, and dead/dying.

Does this seem unfair to you? I do not want to get on the bad side of the city, but I also don't want to eat the cost of the two days my crews spent setting up, working, getting yelled at, kicked out, cleaning up, and getting equipment somewhere else. Basically lost two days.

My question is, what would you guys do? Did this make sense? If we get the bid again and finish the trees, would you guys go back to the 8k bid, or gut punch the resident? Like I said, all costs get passed onto the homeowner, but I also don't want the city to think I'm charging heinous rates because of the situation.

I just can't think of any business where you can kick them off the jobsite mid job have them come back weeks later and finish the job for the same price.
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The rep from the city should of just told the lady tough luck there coming down step aside and let you guys keep at it. You shouldn’t have to re bid it if you were awarded the job. Sucks that this happened for sure
 
TallTreeClimber said:
10k for a removal. Fuuuuuuuu.

I'm in the wrong biz. I could quit my job today if I could line up 5 or 6 of those jobs a year.
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Sorry bud, with big work comes big expense it doesn’t work the way you are thinking. A 10k removal probably has a lot of big expensive equipment on it and the take home at the end isn’t all that much higher.

As for the original question; we work for quite a few communities, commercial contracts and a couple municipalities. Normally we do our best to shut the site down so onlookers aren’t in our way. In addition a representative from the authority having jurisdiction is either on site, or local so it’s a matter of a phone call. That said our clients of this nature do a very good job at notifying and setting up the jobs. Most of the time it’s because during the estimate process I am asking the important questions about who’s tree, how do they feel, can we speak with them, what can we do to minimize interruption in the project. If it sounds like it’s going to be a problem I’ll ask them to have an officer out to handle disturbances.

We closed a major two lane road last fall and I knew we were going to have problems with people driving through the signs and cones. Sure enough while setting the crane up it was a steady flow of traffic through the closure. The PD came out and had a field day writing tickets. Number one answer; I didn’t see the signs (ps they were in the middle of both lanes!).

But as said before municipalities want to help you, you just need to ask.

Edit; I don’t know what your rates are but 2500 extra sounds a bit stiff. Unless your day rate is 5k, I’m not familiar with your operation or what equipment/manpower onsite.
 
to give this closure the resident hired a separate private company to complete the work since the city was forcing it on them.

What the bid was, I don't know. I'll try to find out and let you guys know

But, my feeling is along with the homeowner involving lawyers, the city is glad to be out from under it and let them remove it on their own now. As long as the tree's are getting taken down and the resident is paying for it on the front end themselves (except for our 2500, which the city will have to collect from them)

I do think the resident will end up paying more than 8k for the removal of both trees added with our bill, but the resident was so mad at the city for forcing their hand that they considered our company on the cities "team" if you will, and so wanted anyone but us to do the work.

Unfortunate, because I would have rather made the entire amount of the removal myself but.....there's always the next one....trees never stop growing....job security....
 
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